Iran: Statements by Israeli leaders-Sept-Oct 2011

If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism.

From address by PM Netanyahu to the opening of the Knesset winter session (31 Oct 2011):

Regional powers who have control in the Middle East will try to ensure they have greater influence on the new regimes – influence that will not always support us or be of benefit to us, to say the least. One of these regional forces is Iran, which continues its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. A nuclear Iran would pose a terrible threat on the Middle East and on the entire world. And of course, it poses a great, direct threat on us too.

From address by PM Netanyahu to the UN General Assembly (23 Sept 2011):

Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I extend that hand again today…. I extend it to the people of Syria, Lebanon and Iran, with awe at the courage of those fighting brutal repression.

Militant Islam cloaks itself in the mantle of a great faith, yet it murders Jews, Christians and Muslims alike with unforgiving impartiality. On September 11th it killed thousands of Americans, and it left the twin towers in smoldering ruins. Last night I laid a wreath on the 9/11 memorial. It was deeply moving. But as I was going there, one thing echoed in my mind: the outrageous words of the president of Iran on this podium yesterday. He implied that 9/11 was an American conspiracy. Some of you left this hall. All of you should have.

Since 9/11, militant Islamists slaughtered countless other innocents – in London and Madrid, in Baghdad and Mumbai, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in every part of Israel. I believe that the greatest danger facing our world is that this fanaticism will arm itself with nuclear weapons. And this is precisely what Iran is trying to do.

Can you imagine that man who ranted here yesterday – can you imagine him armed with nuclear weapons? The international community must stop Iran before it’s too late. If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism, and the Arab Spring could soon become an Iranian winter.

That would be a tragedy. Millions of Arabs have taken to the streets to replace tyranny with liberty, and no one would benefit more than Israel if those committed to freedom and peace would prevail….

We left Gaza hoping for peace…. We didn’t get peace. We got war. We got Iran, which through its proxy Hamas promptly kicked out the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority collapsed in a day – in one day. President Abbas just said on this podium that the Palestinians are armed only with their hopes and dreams. Yeah, hopes, dreams and 10,000 missiles and Grad rockets supplied by Iran, not to mention the river of lethal weapons now flowing into Gaza from the Sinai, from Libya, and from elsewhere.

Israel’s response to speech by Ahmadinejad at the UN (22 Sept 2011):

Iran’s president once again, as in his previous appearances in New York and elsewhere, brought a message of hostility towards the family of nations as well as threats to global peace and security.

This should come as no surprise. Less than two weeks ago Ahmadinejad – so cordially hosted today by the UN – reiterated his hollow assertion that the terror attack of 9/11 was a western plot, a decade after more than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives. He has reiterated this infamy today, facing the nations.

Iran’s disdain for the international community is clear, and is exemplified by its continued serial disregard for six Security Resolutions calling on it to cease its nuclear and missile programs – as well as its arms transfers to terrorists. For the past 10 years Tehran has defied the insistence of the International Atomic Energy Agency to come clean about its military nuclear program. Its meddling in the internal affairs of countries near and far flies in the face of respect for territorial sovereignty. A chronic violator of human rights, its cynical attempt to be elected to bodies established to fight human rights violations of all kinds is by now well known. For these reasons alone the international community should not have dignified the Iranian president with this platform to speak.

Tehran’s hostility for the Jewish state and people is also plain for all to see. Iranian leaders repeatedly call for Israel’s destruction, deny the Holocaust, and openly support terrorist organizations in word and deed – as demonstrated by its involvement in the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires of the AMIA Jewish community center, a tragedy which still cries out for justice to be done.